Gustav hits Gulf Coast

Josh Mack leaves his 9th Ward home during Hurricane Gustav and is picked up by the Louisiana National Guard during a search-and-rescue operation.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Upper 9th Ward resident Quincy Irvin retrieves his dog out of the flood waters as Hurricane Gustav hits New Orleans.  (BarbaraDavidson / Los Angeles Times)

Floodwater from Hurricane Gustav sloshes over the Industrial Canal levee into the Upper 9th Ward in New Orleans.  (BarbaraDavidson / Los Angeles Times)

Lorraine Carter was among the relative few who has not evacuated from New Orleans, heading home in the Upper 9th Ward as winds from Hurricane Gustav lash the city.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Selina Landry, 43, is one of five armed security guards protecting a truckers lounge in Jennings, La., that’s been turned into a sleeping area for family members.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

L.C. Deshotel guards the truckers lounge in Jennings, La., where evacuees are staying.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Matt Jackson, left, Tucker Chauvin and Claudia Chauvin wait out the storm Monday at the Uptown Sports Bar in Houma, La.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A tree barely supports a downed billboard in Houma, La., which sustained heavy damage Monday.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Power poles teeter at an awkward angle Monday in Houma, La.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Dwayne Neil, a member of the Terrebonne Parish Jail Work Crew, clears away tree limbs from the streets of Houma, La., on Monday.  (luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The historic St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Houma, La., sustained heavy damage Monday.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A man and a woman push a young boy in a grocery cart through the rain of Hurricane Gustav in Lafayette, La. The couple was heading for shelter as the eye of the hurricane approached. Ferocious rain and wind gusts unleashed by Hurricane Gustav threatened to send surge waters flooding into New Orleans three years after Katrina decimated the city.  (Don Emmert / AFP / Getty Images)

Water breaks over a concrete barrier, the so-called I-wall, along the Industrial Canal as Hurricane Gustav arrives in New Orleans.  (Eric Gay / Associated Press)

The tidal surge of water following Hurricane Gustav flooded streets and splashed over the newly built Industrial Canal levee in New Orleans.  (Skip Bolen / EPA)

A U.S. Army National Guard soldier runs through floodwater from Hurricane Gustav in the Upper 9th Ward in New Orleans. Gustav was downgraded to a Category 1 storm.  (Mario Tama / Getty Images)

A man carries an American flag past debris in the Marigny neighborhood in New Orleans during Hurricane Gustav, now a Category 1 storm.  (Mario Tama / Getty Images)

A team from the Weather Channel films from Canal Steet in the French Quarter in New Orleans as Gustav’s winds blow into the city.  (Matthew Hinton / AFP/Getty Images)

French Quarter resident Todd Browning walks through the driving rains on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.  (Erik S. Lesser / EPA)

A storm surge floods a pier as the outer bands of Hurricane Gustav hit Gulfport, Miss.  (Kevork Djansezian / Associated Press)

A car is washed away by the storm surge on U.S. Highway 90 as the outer bands of Hurricane Gustav hit Gulfport, Miss.  (Kevork Djansezian / Associated Press)

Soldiers on hurricane duty for the Louisiana Army National Guard rest inside the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. The convention center was where thousands of stranded Hurricane Katrina evacuees were taken in 2005.  (Mario Tama / Getty Images)